Chapter History

The Theta Psi chapter of Sigma Chi was founded on March 28, 1987. At the time of it’s founding, it became Sigma Chi’s 213th chapter and Canada’s sixth chapter.

Located at the University of Waterloo, in Waterloo, Ontario, the Theta Psi Chapter is the preeminent collegiate leadership organization on it’s campus.

Photo taken from our 2016 Theta Psi Alumni Golf Tournament, held annually in the Waterloo region.

The chapter is active all three terms of the year: Fall, Winter and Spring. We hold numerous social, philanthropic and leadership building events in and around the Waterloo area.

Our house is located at 268 Albert St., right in the heart of Waterloo's student life, between Wilfred Laurier University and the University of Waterloo.

Since the time of it's founding, our chapter has initiated over 500 men into the Sigma Chi Fraternity; a number that continues to increase. Currently, we have approximately 60 undergraduate members of the Theta Psi Chapter.

A bit of history :

Until the winter of 1985, which saw the founding of Delta Omega Chi, there were no fraternities or sororities at the university. In January of that year, however, two students in the school of engineering, Ron Nielsen and John New, each saw something missing in campus life and independently contacted Sigma Chi Headquarters, inquiring about the possibility of starting a new chapter. They were eventually put in touch with each other and soon spread the word to their friends and acquaintances. After gathering a core of good men, a founding “initiation” ceremony was held at the Epsilon Omicron Chapter at the University of Western Ontario.

The group took on several community projects: helping to clean up a summer camp for Big Brothers; packing and unpacking the equipment for the campus blood donor clinics; and providing security and traffic control for the region’s Canada Day celebrations. The first Delta Omega Chi Dance-a-thon was also held, raising $1,500 for Big Brothers.

There were many projects that Theta Psi helped establish at UW shortly after their installation. These included safety van; a shuttle service for students who live off campus to return safely home late at night. Also, Sigs helped establish Federation Hall; the largest student-owned nightclub in North America. As well, the early Sigs started Walksafe; a project to provide someone to walk students home late at night, who live on or close to UW’s campus. This final project was a response to concerns on campus that the establishment of a fraternity would create an unsafe environment for women to walk home alone at night.